Getting to Know me, Getting to know Linda in Lancaster, PA

My father appointed me the job as Family Historian upon his death. He didn’t know it, but he did. I wrote about that in one of my blogs . I accepted the assignment willingly and have never looked back with regret!

The assignment gave me a new appreciation for my family, both living and formerly living, and has given me a legacy to leave to my children. It explains why we are who we are. Each one of my ancestors have a different story and the end result of each story is ME!

I’ve always enjoyed the stories. Some stories are harder to find than others, but once you find them and compile them, the person comes to life. I have copies of two different diaries, letters exchanged by my parents in WWII and by ancestors in the late 1800’s and pictures passed down generation to generation to generation. I have been nominated and I accepted the nomination ~ with humbleness and honor.

I have three blogs, each one dealing with a different aspect of my life:

From Axer to Ziegler chronicles my genealogy experiences and thoughts. This is the one that gets the most traffic and seems to be the one most people are interested in. It is the one I post to most often

and my oldest blog is Jim and Linda’s Duo-ings and Happenings. This blog covers trips, visits and experiences Jim and I have shared. It’s my electronic scrapbook and covers Philadelphia, New Castle, Delaware, Tehachapi, CA and points in between.

Listening to people tell their stories bring them to life. Without the stories, my ancestors are simply names. The primary reason I collect the names is so I can fit the names into the stories. Now, when I collect the names, I make sure they are the right name. If they’re not the right name ~ and I make sure by careful documentation ~ then the story is not theirs. The goal of my blogs is to:

Chronicle my adventures in finding the names

Write the stories down

Have fun doing the first two and hopefully snare a reader or two. . . .

I think the breeziest blog I’ve written is my frustration with trying to figure out just one person’s family! Sometimes I wish I descended from Christopher. When there seems to be no solution for something that perplexes me, I tend to be a bit sarcastic.

and finally I think the most beautiful blog would be the tribute to my father, Dad would have been 93 this month is my tribute to the man I still miss 18 years after his passing.

Family is my theme ~ those who have gone before me and those that follow me. They are the reason I am writing this down. I want my children and grandchildren to know the stories and repeat them to their children and grandchildren. We are who we are because of what those who went before us did. Their thoughts, prayers, tears and laughter make us who we are today.